Today there are more than 1.5 billion Muslims living across the globe with Muslim majority
countries spreading from Morocco to Indonesia.
But just like virtually all other religions, Islam is not united and has branches interpreting
Quran and matters related to political events in the history of Islam in a different way.
The two main denominations of Islam are Sunnism and Shiism with Sunnis making up 85-90% of
the Muslim population.
But how did the split in the Muslim world happened?
In today’s video we are going to talk about the schism in Islam, emergence of Sunni and
Shia Islam and the effects it had on the Caliphate and beyond.
We need to start our story with Ali ibn Abi Talib, one of the most important persons in
the history of Islam.
Ali was born in Mecca in the powerful Hashimi clan and was a cousin of the Muslim Prophet
Muhammad.
They had a strong bond, as Ali’s father had raised Muhammad when he became orphaned
and later Ali would live in Muhammad’s household.
When in 610 AD Muhammad proclaimed his prophethood, Ali was one of the first persons to accept
Islam and recognize Muhammad as the prophet.
But Muhammad’s proselytizing was not initially popular among the polytheistic Meccans and
he and the early Muslims had been oppressed.
The rumours of a plot against Muhammad were spreading, forcing him to leave Mecca for
Medina with majority of his followers in 622, which was called Hijra - the migration - an
event so momentous that the new Islamic calendar starts with that day.
Initially Ali stayed behind to return people the possessions they had entrusted upon the
Prophet for safekeeping, but very soon he joined other Muslims in Medina and in 623
married Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah Zahra, becoming one of the most trusted companions
of Muhammad.
Known in the Muslim community for wisdom and fairness, he earned the nickname Asad Allah
- the Lion of God - for his military exploits and courage on the battlefield.
By 631 the Islamic community - the Ummah - had been able to assert control over Mecca and
large swathes of the Arabian Peninsula and was already a formidable force, but who was
going to succeed aging Muhammad?
And this is the root of the split in Islam.
As one would expect Sunni and Shia sources offer different interpretations.
On the way back from his last pilgrimage Muhammad made a sermon at the Ghadir Khumm oasis, took
Ali by his hand and proclaimed that "Anyone who has me as his Mawla , has Ali as his Mawla".
Shia theology believes that in Ghadir Khumm the Prophet designated Ali as his successor
by calling him Mawla - a polysemous Arabic word with several meanings, one of which is
leader or master.
Sunnis believe that the Ghadir Khumm episode was merely a proclamation of affinity of the
Prophet to his loyal companion and son-in-law and interpret the word Mawla using its second
definition - a friend.
Another important episode in the succession dispute between the Sunni and Shia theologies
is connected to the so-called Pen and Paper episode.
This is considered a genuine hadith, as both Sunni and Shia theologians accept it, but
interpret differently.
In Islam, a hadith is a story on the life of Muhammad with religious and legal messages
for the Muslim community, and according to this one, a few days before his death, Muhammad
asked his companions to bring him pen and paper so that he could write a statement in
order to prevent the Ummah from going astray after his death.
But one of Muhammad’s closest companions Umar said: “The Prophet is seriously ill,
and we have got Allah’s Book with us and that is sufficient for us”.
This led to a loud dispute in the room in the presence of Muhammad, who got unhappy
and called everyone to leave.
It is still unclear what the prophet wanted to write.
Shias claim that he intended to designate Ali as his successor, but there is no way
to determine this.
According to Sunnis, the Prophet did not explicitly designate a successor and left it for the
Islamic community to decide.
There are other events which Sunnis and Shia base their claims on regarding the succession,
but in short following Muhammad’s death in 632, the Ummah did not have a consensus
on a new leader.
While Ali took charge of the arrangements of the funeral, a meeting to decide the successor
took place in Medina.
Ali and two other prominent companions of the Prophet Abu Bakr and Umar were not present
and deliberations took place without them.
In fact majority of those present were the Muslims residing in Medina, who welcomed Muhammad
or were converted later, while very few of those who went on a Hijra from Mecca to Medina
with Muhammad were there.
Abu Bakr and Umar rushed to the meeting and took charge of the process in Ali’s absence.
The latter was one of the first converts to Islam, Muhammad’s father-in-law through
his daughter Aisha.
Deeply respected by modern Sunnis, he was very rich and contributed a lot to the cause
of Islam, and arguably one of the main contenders to leadership.
Umar was also a close companion of Muhammad, also his father-in-law through his daughter
Hafsa, known for his zealous protection of the Prophet.
He is known as a just, intelligent and wise person in the Sunni tradition.
After a heated debate, Umar was able to persuade those present to choose Abu Bakr as the successor
- the Caliph, a ruler of the Muslim Ummah.
Ali was later presented with the fact of succession and along with a number of other companions
initially refused to accept the decision, as it was taken without him, while he was
one of the strongest candidates.
Umar embarked on the process of persuading or forcing the companions to offer fealty
to Abu Bakr.
He personally came to Ali’s house to persuade him.
The events which followed have been the subject of much dispute, as the Sunnis believe that
Umar was able to peacefully persuade Ali to recognize Abu Bakr’s Caliphate.
According to Shia sources, Umar forced Ali to concede by breaking into the house, slamming
the door, which broke Ali’s wife Fatimah Zahrah ribs, eventually leading to miscarriage
of their child.
Ali himself was tied with a rope to force his allegiance.
It is impossible to verify what really happened, but eventually Ali accepted Abu Bakr and his
successor Umar as caliphs and retired from public life.
He was often consulted in matters of state.
Ali accepted the selection of Umar as caliph and even gave one of his daughters, Umm Kulthūm,
to him in marriage.
After the death of Umar in 644, Ali was considered for the position, but eventually another companion
of Muhammad, Uthman of the Banu Umayyah clan, became the new caliph.
Again, Ali recognized the new caliph, but very soon discontent in the Caliphate grew.
Again the sources do not agree on the reasons, but many claimed that Uthman’s nepotism
and leniency towards tribal rivalries was the cause of the opposition against him.
Rebels offered to support Ali as an alternative to Uthman, but Ali refused and even sent his
sons Hassan and Husain to protect Uthman’s house, where eventually despite all the protection
Uthman was assassinated by rebels from Egypt in 656.
Finally Ali’s turn to become a caliph came and he became the fourth and the last of the
Rashidun Caliphs.
But his election was not smooth and he became a caliph amidst very tumultuous times.
The Prophet’s wife Aisha and Uthman’s relatives from the Banu Umayyah clan, including
the governor of Syria Muawiya demanded Ali to punish the plotters of Uthman’s death,
but since some of them were Ali’s supporters, the new caliph rejected and soon the First
Muslim Civil War, called Fitna started.
In December 656, Ali’s army defeated the rebels at the Battle of Camel near Basra,
but Muawiya still refused to accept Ali as a new caliph and the anti-Ali opposition gathered
around him.
Ali was willing to not repeat Uthman’s mistakes and carried out measures to centralize the
caliphate and decrease the power of governors.
The two men assembled their armies and confronted each other at Siffin, on the Euphrates, in
657.
Neither side was keen to commit to a major battle, but after three months of occasional
skirmishes, when serious fighting finally broke out, Muawiya’s followers called for
an arbitration, apparently after riding out with copies of the Quran on their lances to
bring the conflict to a stop.
Ali was forced to agree, but some of his followers objected and abandoned him; they became known
as kharijis, from the Arabic verb kharaja to leave because they left Ali’s army.
According to the arbitration, which took place at Adhruh in 658 or 659, it was ruled that
both Ali and Muawiya should relinquish their claims and the Muslim Ummah should have a
chance to choose their own ruler.
Ali rejected this ruling and the stalemate continued as Muawiya’s supporters proclaimed
him a caliph in Damascus in 660.
The following year Ali was assassinated by the Kharijis while praying in the mosque at
Kufa.
Ali’s son Hasan was proclaimed a new caliph in Kufa, which became the capital during Ali’s
short reign.
But Muawiya had a far stronger army, thus Hasan stepped down as a caliph in order to
avoid further bloodshed and a treaty between the sides was signed.
According to the treaty: - Hasan accepted Muawiya as a caliph under
the condition that he would act in accordance with Islam
- Muawiya should not appoint a successor and a new caliph should be elected by the electoral
council - Shura - Muawiya should abandon cursing Ali and persecuting
Ali’s family and supporters.
But Muawiya would not stay true to his pledges and towards the end of his reign he designated
his son Yazid as a successor.
This would be breaking off the tradition of the Islamic Caliphate as a state, which elected
its leader through consultation or election, to a monarchy.
Muawiya summoned the Shura in Damascus, the new capital of the Caliphate and through persuasion
and bribery was able to secure support for Yazid.
This development caused significant opposition in different quarters and this opposition
started gathering around Muhammad’s grandson and Ali’s son, Husain, who replaced Hasan,
who passed away in 670, as the leader.
Despite the opposition, Muawiya was able to secure the support of Mecca and Medina for
Yazid.
Ali’s capital Kufa was the potential stronghold of the opposition and the death of Muawiya
in 680 put the events, which would further divide the Islamic World, into action.
Following Muawiya’s death Yazid became a new caliph and immediately demanded allegiance
of Husain.
Yazid’s envoy could not persuade Husain to do this and was afraid of killing him,
since Husain was the Prophet’s grandson.
Around the same time, the people of the city of Kufa started sending letters to Husain
informing him about their opposition to the Umayyad rule, their support for him and intention
to remove Yazid from power and install him instead.
The Kufans sided with Ali during the first Fitna, continued to support his family by
backing Hasan and were unhappy when he abdicated in favour of Muawiya.
Husain accepted this call and sent his cousin Muslim ibn Aqil to Kufa to assess the situation
and gather support.
Initially, Muslim ibn Aqil was very successful and he informed Hussain of the progress.
Yazid was forced to change the governor of Kufa to defeat the opposition in the city
and the new governor succeeded in doing just that.
With the support dwindling, Muslim ibn Aqil decided to carry out a revolt before Husain’s
arrival, but it was defeated.
Husain did not know about this and in September 680 started his journey towards Kufa with
around 50 men and his family members.
On the way Husain received information about the death of Muslim ibn Aqil and the defeat
of the revolt in Kufa.
He called on those who joined him on the way to leave, understanding the futility of his
attempt to challenge Yazid.
Very soon Yazid’s forces confronted Husain and an envoy of the Kufa’s new governor
told Husain to come with him or turn back and go anywhere, but Medina.
Husain refused and continued on his path with the envoys forces accompanying him.
On the 2nd of October Husain reached Karbala and set camp there.
On the following day Yazid sent additional 4k men to confront Husain.
The Umayyad army had orders to prevent Husain’s men from accessing the Euphrates river, in
order to force them to concede due to lack of water.
But 3 days later Husain’s group was able to access water, creating a stalemate.
For over a week Yazid’s officials had tried to persuade Husain to accept his fate and
pledge allegiance to Yazid, since they understood the consequences of attacking the Prophet’s
grandson.
Ultimately, Husain refused the offers of Yazid and on the 10th of October the Umayyad army
approached Husain’s camp and both sides took their battle positions.
Husain’s companions fought valiantly, but the forces were extremely uneven - he and
his men were massacred.
This included 7 sons of Ali, including Husain himself, two of Husain’s son’s, three
sons of his brother Hasan and other grandchildren of Ali.
Many from the prophet’s family were killed.
This was a final straw completing the schism in the Islamic world and dividing into Sunni
and Shia.
The process, which started with the dispute over succession to Muhammad and continued
with killing of Ali and Husain caused the split of Islam with Shiat Ali - Ali’s Party
- first becoming a political movement within Islam and later transforming into a branch
of Islam offering alternative interpretation of Quran and Hadiths, its own view on Islamic
jurisprudence, on state and some religious practices, venerating the People of the House
(Ahl al-Bayt) Muhammad’s direcet descendants as his righteous succesors.
The Sunni, also known as The People of the Sunnah and the Community - Ahl as-Sunnah wa
l-jamaah) remained the majority in Islam and although naturally there have been some transformation
in the Sunni Islam in comparison with early Islam coming with new times and different
interpretations of holy texts by the Sunni scholars, the main distinctions between the
two largest branches of Islam go back to the events we have described above.
And while the Sunni theology respects the Ahl al-Bayt as well, it rejects the premise
that the Islamic Ummah should be ruled by Ahl al-Bayt.
The Killing of Ali, massacre of Husain, his family members and companions strengthened
the sense of injustice against the Prophet’s family among the Shia Muslims and turned martyrdom
into one of its main pillars.
Ali’s martyrdom during the prayer, Husain’s martyrdom during the struggle against the
perceived tyrant and usurper, turned into a powerful symbol of the Shia Islam.
The first month of the Muslim calendar - Muharram is the annual period of mourning for the Shia
Muslims with the 10th of Muharram known as Ashura, the day of the Battle of Karbala,
becoming the peak day of mourning ceremonies.
Millions of devoted Shias make the Arbaeen pilgrimage on foot to the Holy Shrine of Imam
Husain in Karbala every year.
The Shia defeat in the Battle of Karbala did not stop the supporters of the Ahl al-Bayt
from opposing the existing state of affairs in the Islamic World.
Dissenters to the existing state of affairs in Islam would take up the flag of the Party
of Ali and challenge the rule of the Caliphate.
Numerous powerful states and dynasties such as the Fatimids, Buyids, Nizaris, Safavids
and others emerged throughout the Islamic world armed with the powerful idea of Shia
Islam.
In our episode on the Hashashins, link to which is in description and pinned comment,
you can learn about some of the events that followed the Muslim Schism, and we are planning
more episodes on the topic, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button
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